2011 - Any favorable forecasts?

I came home from the office yesterday and asked Abbie if she wanted the good news or the bad news first. As usual, that question stumps her and she never knows what to say, so I gave her the bad news first: "There's no good news."

The day had started off with the confirmation that I have been filing my Portuguese tax returns wrong for the last 9 years, which opens up the prospects of all sorts of possible consequences that differ only in the amount of financial pain that will be inflicted in terms of additional taxes, fines and interest charges. None will be painless, especially as Portugal is teetering on the brink of financial collapse in the wake of Greece and Ireland. The final verdict is not in yet on which will be the next to fall: Spain or Portugal.

There is a lesson in this story. I've been reporting my income from the State Department according to information received from tax experts, who as recently as last week said I had been doing the right thing. When I was in the process of writing a letter to the Portuguese tax authorities and went to quote the tax treaty provision to support my position, I happened to read the next subparagraph. Everyone who advised me went as far as Art. 21(1)(b)(i). When I checked the law, I read the next subparagraph, Art. 21(1)(b)(ii). I immediately foresaw the consequences, and I asked my tax adviser about it, who said, "Yes, you have a problem!", apologizing for not being aware of all the facts that would affect my tax status. Moral: before you hang your doctrinal hat on one verse of the Bible, be sure you've read the preceding verse and the following one. Your hat may not fit on the hook, after all.

That was the start. Then I went to pick up the prescription for Abbie's heart medication. After 6 different pharmacies in Funchal all gave me the same story, I figured there must be some truth to it. That medication is sold out and the distributor is out and doesn't know when it will have more of it. The last pharmacist suggested I try some pharmacies out of town; I might get lucky and find one with a box or two of the pills.

Halfway home, I stopped at a pharmacy in a small village...same story...maybe she could find a generic drug that would serve. Everyone was in agreement: Abbie could not/should not stop taking this medication. I went on home with the doctor's phone number in my pocket. If I couldn't find the medication, he would have to write a prescription for a substitute.

All this, and on a rainy day, my umbrella broke. No good news to tell Abbie.

There was still one option for the medication. We went down to pharmacy in the village of Santa Cruz, where we live. The girl went and looked and came back shaking her head, adding, "There are no generic drugs that exactly fit this prescription." At the same time, the pharmacist came out of the back room with a package. It was a paper bag with Abbie's name written on it. In it was a box of the medication we were looking for. "Here, we've been holding this for you."

Ah, yes, some time before, Abbie had gone there with a prescription for two boxes of the medication and the pharmacy had only one. We paid for two, with the promise that if we came back the next week we could pick up the second box. We travelled; we forgot. Now, here was the box of medication she needed, already paid for! We checked the date on the receipt when we got home to see how long it had been on hold for us: March 23, 2010.
Is there any reason to doubt God's provision of our needs long before we are ever aware of them?

We have no clue what we will face in 2011, but God knows, and for His people, He has already made ample provision to see that our needs are met.